Senator Cornyn on patent reform 2015

From the National Journal

--

Without mentioning him by name, Cornyn charged then-Majority Leader Reid for killing a bipartisan compromise set to emerge from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"But then, just as the markup was getting ready to take place, Chairman [Patrick] Leahy was advised by the majority leader at the time that this bill, if it was passed out of committee, was not going to get any floor time," Cornyn said during a breakfast hosted by the American Enterprise Institute on Capitol Hill. "So that was pretty much the end of that."

Reid was widely blamed by stakeholders, Republicans, and even some Democrats for blocking patent-reform efforts last spring, just as the Judiciary Chairman Leahy was expected to introduce a compromise package after months of tense back-and-forth dialogue that involved an ever-growing array of diverse stakeholders. Reid's opposition to bringing forward any patent bill was seen as a midterm-election-year attempt to curry favor with groups not fully supportive of reform efforts, including trial lawyers, a group that is typically a strong Democratic constituency.

--

As to 2015

--

But Cornyn indicated that Congress would move forward quickly. He said the House would likely act first, noting that Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte is expected to reintroduce next week his Innovation Act, which passed the lower chamber with a sweeping bipartisan majority last Congress. A Goodlatte aide would only say the chairman expected to introduce legislation "very soon."

--